Waste

BSU has done a great job reducing their waste so far, but that's always room for improvement. As apart of the Climate Action Plan, BSU's goal is to be carbon neutral, which means little to zero waste.

Reusable Water Bottles and Mugs

Starting back in fall of 2009, the Sustainability Office offers free
mugs or water bottles to all incoming freshman and transfer students. At
the end of the fall semester, if there are any bottles or mugs left, we
open it up to all students. The purpose of this is to reduce the use of
plastic bottled water and paper/styrofoam coffee cups. Providing a
container for students to reuse, will give more of an incentive to
reduce and reuse!

Free Store

The Free Store is a place in the Sustainability Office where
everything is free! It's all student, faculty, and staff donations that
people can come in take. Everything from clothes, kitchen supplies, or
school supplies are available. The purpose of the Free Store is to
reduce the amount of products that people buy. We want to encourage
people to reuse items when they are in perfectly good shape. It's been
very successful!

Waste Audit

Every semester the Sustainability Office performs
a waste audit for the academic building, Hagg Sauer. We choose Hagg
Sauer because of the high student/faculty/staff traffic, and the high
number of faculty offices. The audit is performed over a 5-day period
has been going on since 2008. The results are

2008:

59.45% Garbage

20.65% Paper

19.90% Containers

AFTER EDUCATION

70.99% Garbage

12.29% Paper

16.72% Containers

2009:

85.21% Garbage

8.15% Paper

6.64% Containers

2010:

83.31% Garbage

8.15% Paper

6.28% Containers

317 Java City cups

33 lbs of potential compost

15 lbs of liquid waste

2011:

78.56% Garbage

13.32& Paper

8.13% Containers

193 Java City cups

13 lbs of potential compost

12.5 lbs of liquid waste

22.5 lbs of paper towels

"We need to love and respect the Earth with the same intensity that we give our families and our tribe."~ James Lovelock